Let Us Go Forth
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 26, 1864, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing His
reproach."
Hebrews 13:13.
MODERN professors have discovered a very easy way of religion. There is
a method by which a man may attain to great reputation as a Christian
and yet avoid all the trials of the Believer's estate. He may go
through the world finding his path as smoothly turfed as the flesh
could desire. Blessed with the smiles of friendly formalists and with
the admiration of the ungodly, he may pass from his first entrance into
the Church to his grave without experiencing so much as a single shower
to dampen his happiness. The sun may smile sweetly upon him all the
way, the birds may sing–not a raven may dare to croak, not a single
owl may hoot–his road to glory and immortality shall be all that ease
could wish!
Let him adopt the modern theory of universal love. Let him believe that
a lie is a truth and that whether it is a lie or a truth is of no
consequence at all. Let him be complacent towards every man, and with a
smooth and oily tongue chime in with every other man's principles,
having none of his own worth mentioning. Let him trim his sails
whenever the wind changes. Let him in all things do in Rome as Rome
does. Let him yield at all times to the current and float gently with
the stream and he shall come to the haven–though I fear not the
desired one–he shall come to some sort of haven at last, without any
storm or tempest by the way.
But a daring thought comes across one's mind. Is this the kind of
religion which we read of in the Bible? Is this the way in which
Scriptural saints went to Heaven? It would be a very pleasant thing if
we could please men and please God, too–if we could make the best of
both worlds and have the sweets of this and of the next also! But a
warning cry arises from the pages of Holy Scripture, for the Word of
God talks very differently from this. It talks about a straight and
narrow way and about few that find it. It speaks of persecution,
suffering, reproach, contending even unto blood, and striving against
sin! It talks about wrestling and fighting, struggling and witnessing.
I hear the Savior say not, "I send you forth as sheep into the midst of
green pastures," but, "as sheep in the midst of wolves."
I hear him prophesy that we should be hated of all men for His name's
sake. Truly these things are enough to startle those good easy souls
who go so delicately onward! Surely they may at once enquire, "Can it
be that this smooth-faced godliness–this very delightful way of
getting to Heaven–is the right one?" Is it not all a delusion? Are we
not buoyed up with a false hope, if that hope is never assailed by
trouble and persecution? All is not gold that glitters–may not the
glittering religion of the many be, after all, only a pretense and a
sham?
O you lovers of carnal ease, woe unto you! Inasmuch as you take not up
the Cross, you shall never win the crown! The disciples of Christ must
expect to follow their Master not merely in obedience to His doctrines,
but also in the reproach which gathers about His Cross. I do not find
Christ carried on flowery beds of ease to His Throne. I do not find Him
applauded with universal acclamations! On the contrary, wherever He
goes He is a protestor against things established by human wisdom. And
in return, the things established vow His destruction and are not
satisfied until at last they gloat their cruel eyes with His martyrdom
upon the Cross.
Jesus Christ has no life of pleasure and of ease! He is despised and
rejected of men–a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief! And let us
rest assured that if we bear faithfully our testimony we shall discover
that the servant is not above his Master, nor the disciple above his
Lord–if they have called the Master of the house "Beelzebub," much
more shall they call them of His household by titles as ignominious and
shameful. We must expect, if the Christian soldier is really a soldier
and not a mere pretender to the art of war, that he will have to fight
until he joins the Host triumphant. If the Church is properly imaged by
a ship, she must expect to have storms. And every man on board her must
look to bear his share.
From the first day, when Cain and Abel divided the first family into
two camps, even until now, the flesh lusts against the Spirit. The evil
contends with the good and the good wrestles with the evil. Wherever
the true and the good have pitched their tents, there the enemy have
gathered to attack them. Righteousness courts no peace or truce with
sin–our peaceful Savior came not to form an alliance so unhallowed.
Hear His own words–"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I
came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in- law. And a man's foes shall be
they of his own household."
Turning to Scripture, then, I find nothing about this pretty by-path
meadow and its quiet, respectable walk to Heaven. I find nothing about
riding in the gilded chariots of ease or walking in silver slippers.
But I do find contention and strife, and rebuke and suffering, and
cross-bearing and if need be, resistance unto blood striving against
sin! Our text seems to convey that thought to us most powerfully. Let
us take it up, and may the Holy Spirit lead us to its true meaning. We
have before us, first of all, the Believer's path. Secondly his Leader.
Thirdly, his burden. And fourthly, his reason for following that path.
I. We have, first of all, THE BELIEVER'S PATH. The Believer's path is,
"Let us go forth outside the camp." The Divine Command is not, "Let us
stop in the camp and try to reform it–things are not anywhere quite
perfect–let us, therefore, stop and make matters right." No, the
Christian's watch cry is, "Let us go forth." Luther caught this note.
Many there were who said, "The Church of Rome has in it good and true
men–let us try and reform her. Her cloisters are not without piety,
her priests are not without sanctified lives–let us try and restore
her purity." But Luther heard the voice of God, "Come you out from
among her, lest you be partakers of her plagues," and therefore he led
the van, taking for his watchword, "Let us go forth outside the camp."
To this day the Christian's place is not to tarry in the camp of
worldly conformity, hoping, "Perhaps I may aid the movement for
reform." It is not the Believer's duty to conform to the world and to
the world's ways and say, "Perhaps by so doing I may gain a foothold
and men's hearts may be the more ready to receive the Truth of God."
No, from the first to the last day of the Church of God, the place of
witness is not inside, but outside the camp. And the true position of
the Christian is to go forth outside the camp bearing Christ's
reproach.
In this respect Abraham becomes an example to us. The Lord's first word
to Abraham is that he should leave his father, his kinsfolk and the
idolatrous house in which he lived and go to a land which God would
show him. Away he must go–Faith must be his guide–Providence his
provision and the living God his only keeper! The separate life of
Abraham, in the midst of the sons of Canaan, is a type of the separated
walk of the Church of God.
Again, when Israel had gone down to Egypt they were not commanded to
stay there and subdue their oppressors by force of arms, or petition
the legislature that they might obtain gentler usage–no, but with a
high hand and an outstretched arm, the Lord brought forth His people
out of Egypt! Egypt was no place for the seed of Israel. And while they
wandered in the wilderness and afterwards when they settled in
isolation in the midst of the promised land, God's Word was fulfilled,
"The people shall dwell alone: they shall not be numbered among the
nations."
As if to keep up the type, the Jewish people at this very period,
though mingled with all the nations of the world, are as distinct as
men can be. And you cannot pass by a Jew without remarking at once in
his face that he is distinct and separate from all mankind. This, I
say, is but a type of the Church of God–the Church of God is to be
distinct and separate from all other corporations or communities! Her
laws come from no human legislator! Her officers claim no royal
appointment! Her endowments are not from the coffers of the State! Her
subjects are a peculiar people and her spirit is not of this world!
What is meant then, dear Friends, by this "going forth without the
camp"? I understand it to mean, first of all, that every Christian is
to go forth by an open profession of his faith. You that love the Lord
are to say so. You must come out and avow yourselves on His side. You
may be Christians and make no profession, but I cannot be sure that you
are a Believer, nor can any other man. While you make no profession, we
must, to a great extent, judge you by the non-profession. And since you
do not acknowledge yourselves to be a part of Christ's Church we are
compelled to adjudge you as not a part of that Church! We cannot
suppose you to be better than you profess to be for the most of men are
not half so good as their professions.
Usually, as a rule, no man is as good as his religion and certainly no
man is ever better than his religion. If you do not profess to be on
Christ's side–with all charity we are forced to accept your own
confession of having no interest in Jesus. Come out, Christians! Your
Master commands you and warns you that if you are ashamed of Him in
this generation, He will be ashamed of you in the day of His Glory! He
bids you acknowledge Him, for if you confess Him before men He will
confess you when He comes in the Glory of His holy angels. I pray you,
then, come out from among them by taking up the name of a Christian!
Why, what is there to shudder at? Are you a soldier and will you not
wear your Captain's livery? What? Do you love Christ and blush to admit
it? You ought to be glad to plead guilty to the blessed impeachment.
Why do you stand back? Let not fear or shame restrain you. If you are
Christians there is really nothing discreditable in it. Up! Stand
shoulder to shoulder with the people of God and say, "I will go with
you because the Lord is with you." This done, the Christian is to be
separate from the world as to his company. He must buy and sell and
trade like other men in the world, but he is not to find his bosom
friends in it.
He is not to go out of society and shut himself up in a monastery–he
is to be in the world, but not of it. And his choice company is not to
be among the loose, the immoral, the profane! No, not even among the
merely moral–his choice company is to be the saints of God. He is to
select for his associates those who shall be his companions in the
world to come. As birds of a feather flock together, so the birds of
paradise are gregarious. Like the speckled birds they are peeked at by
the common flock. As idle boys were wont to mock at foreigners in the
streets, so do worldlings jeer at Christians. Therefore the Believer
flies away to his own company when he wants good fellowship. The
Christian must come out of the world as to his company.
I know that this rule will break many a fond connection, but be not
unequally yoked with unbelievers. I know it will snap ties which are
almost as dear as life, but it must be done. We must not be overruled
even by our own brother when the things of God and conscience are
concerned. You must follow Christ, whatever may be the enmity you
excite– remembering that unless you love Christ better than husband,
or father, or mother, yes and your own life also–you cannot be His
disciple. If these are hard terms, turn your backs and perish in your
sins! Count the cost. And if you cannot bear such a cost as this, do
not undertake to be a follower of Christ!
The follower of Jesus goes without the camp as to his pleasures. He is
not without his joys nor his recreations. But he does not seek them
where the wicked find them. The mirth which cheers the worldly makes
the Christian sad–the carrion which delights the crow would disgust
the dove. And so those things which are delightful and full of pleasure
to un-renewed men shock and grieve the hearts of the regenerate. If you
have no separation from the world as to your pleas-ures–since your
heart is generally in your pleasures–your heart, therefore, is with
the wicked and with them shall your doom be when God comes to judge
mankind!
Furthermore, the true follower of Christ is divided from the world as
to his maxims. He does not subscribe to the laws which rule most men in
their families and their business. Men generally say, "Everyone for
himself and God for us all." That is not the Christian's maxim. "Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of
others," is the Christian's rule. Some men will sail very near the
wind. They would not absolutely cheat, but still they use very sharp
practices. They would not lie, but their puffs and recommendations are
not quite the truth. The Christian scorns all this questionable dealing
and in all matters keeps to the rule of uprightness.
If the Believer is true to his Master and goes outside the camp to
follow Him, his actions are as clear as the noonday. His word is his
bond and in his trade he would as soon think of becoming absolutely a
thief as to condescend to the common tricks of trade. From my soul I
loathe those men, who, under the pretense and profession of religion,
use the very respectability of their position to gain credit among
others that they may defraud by obtaining credit which they do not
deserve! Such persons are the greatest possible disgrace to the
Christian Church.
The bankruptcy courts may whitewash them but the devil has blackened
them beyond all power of bankruptcy to cleanse them. Their black
deceitfulness shows through! Men may escape censure when standing at
the easy bar of the commissioner and get a certificate, but they will
find it very difficult to get a certificate when God comes to judge
them in the Last Great Day. Our laws in England really seem to me to be
made on purpose that men may thieve and rob with impunity, so long as
they do it under color of commerce. Well, if man's law will not touch
such men, God's Law shall! And the Church should see that she cleanses
herself as much as possible from them. If we are followers of Christ,
we must go forth without this camp of discrepancy and thieving! Ours
must be a downright and honest religion that will not let us swerve a
hair's breadth from the straight line of integrity and uprightness.
Once more, and here is a very difficult part of the Christian's
course–the Christian is to come out not only from the world's
pleasures and sins and irreligion–but there are times when the true
followers of Christ must come out from the world's religion as well as
irreligion. Every nation has a religion. In the days of Abraham the
little nationalities round him all had their god. In the days of Christ
there was am established religion in Judea–and I suppose that out of
its synagogues our Lord Jesus Christ was thrust with fury. There was an
established religion with its priests and its proud Pharisaic
professors–but our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ boldly proclaimed His
protest against its distortions of Scripture, its want of true
spirituality, its worldliness, its pomp and pride.
In His day Jesus Christ was as true a Dissenter as any of us and
separated Himself and His little company from the authorized and
established ecclesiastical camp. Judaism was not the religion of
Abraham, neither were the Pharisees the true exponents and successors
of Moses. Therefore Christ, with burning words, though full of charity
and with a loving heart–but with a thundering tongue–bore an awful
witness against the religion of His own age! He knew how the multitude
respected it and how the great ones lived upon it, but for all this,
though His life must be shed for His protest, Christ led His disciples
away from the national religion to something better, nobler and more
sublime. And you and I, too, Brethren, must see that we never fall in
with the religion of the times because it happens to be fashionable and
because the multitude follow it, or the law of the land patronizes it!
If there exists anywhere on earth a Church which teaches for doctrine
the commandments of men, come out of her and bear your witness for the
Truth of God. I see before me now a Church which tolerates evangelical
truth in her communion, but at the same time lovingly embraces Puseyism
and finds room for infidels and for men who deny the authenticity of
Scripture. This is no time for us to talk about friendship with so
corrupt a corporation. The godly in her midst are deceived if they
think to mold her to a more gracious form. Her bishops will not touch
the Burial Service, although four thousand clergymen petition for a
little ease for their consciences.
Nor will they give up reading in God's own worship the filthy story of
"Susannah and the Elders," nor the nursery tale of "Bell and the
Dragon"–though one of their priests asserts that he would quite as
soon read "Jack and the Beanstalk." We have waited long enough–her
space for repentance has been already too long! Flee out of her, all of
you who love your souls! Come out from among her! Be you
separate–touch not the unclean thing lest you be partakers of her
plagues, for her plagues are many. Often have I read works in which the
Puseyites call the Church of Rome their sister Church! Well, if it is
so let the two harlots make a league together, but let good and honest
men come out of both apostate churches! And those who love the Lord
Jesus, whether clergy or laity, must leave them to their doom.
I know it is hard work. It calls upon many to be poor and give up their
livings, but they must do it. Scotland witnessed, a few years ago, one
of the noblest spectacles the world ever beheld. My heart would break
with joy for England if I should live to see such a day and such a deed
of heroism–but there is not spirit enough left in us. There is not
Divine Grace enough left in us. I fear we have fallen upon a degenerate
age.
The "land of brown heath and shaggy wood, land of the mountain and the
flood," has nurtured a noble race of brave, bold men and these could
give up house and home and living for the Truth and for God's sake. But
it is not so in England. No, they will sell their consciences. They
will cower down and mutter a lie at the command of the State. They will
bury adulterers and seducers in sure and certain hope of a blessed
resurrection. They will teach a catechism which their conscience tells
them is not true, for riches, for station! For the sake of the loaves
and fishes, the men of God (and many of them we hope are such) will
hold still to the false Church. Our protest is lifted up against her
and our foot stands altogether without her camp. Come you out from
among her! Be you separate! Touch her not! Have no communion with her
false doctrines!
As for each of us who knows the Truth, our place is with Christ outside
the camp, bearing His reproach. I am sure my text contains all this and
more. And I would to God that His Church would take up her true
position now and be separate in all things from anything that defiles
and makes a lie.
II. But now, secondly, we have in the text, THE CHRISTIAN'S LEADER. It
does not say, "Let us go forth outside the camp" merely, but, "Let us
go forth therefore unto Him." Here is the heart of the text–"unto
Him." Beloved, we might leave society–we might forsake all its
conventionalities and become Nonconformists in the widest sense and yet
not carry out the text–for the text is, "Let us go forth unto Him." O
Beloved, it is this point that I would urge upon you! I am no
politician! I care not one whit what Church has the State-pay, or what
has not. I care not for political dissent–but I do care for
religiously following my Master's Word and, by His Grace, I will.
And when I read this text, "Let us go forth therefore unto Him," I set
myself to learn what the Word means. It means, first, let us have
fellowship with Him. He was despised. He had no credit for charity. He
was mocked in the streets. He was hissed at. He was hounded from among
society. If I take a smooth part, I can have no fellowship with
Him–fellowship requires a like experience. Come, then, my Soul, put on
the Savior's garb–walk through the mire with Him! Off with your silver
slippers–go barefoot within Christ! Be you, yourself, like the bush
which burns but is not consumed. Be content that your shoulders should
be raw with His rough Cross–He carried it–do not shirk the labor!
Expect not to wear the crown where Christ carried the Cross, but, for
fellowship's sake, follow Him.
Again, if I am to follow Him, I am to follow His example. What Christ
did I am to do. I am to go forth unto Him. It is never to be a rule
unto me that Mr. So-and-So did such-and-such a thing, or Mrs.
So-and-So–what Christ did is to be my rule. Some men are for hanging
on what Luther did, or what Calvin did–that is nothing to the
Christian–he says, "I am to go forth unto Jesus." Follow Jesus Christ
and none but Jesus Christ and then you will be separate, indeed, from
the rest of men. I am to go forth unto Him–that is, I am to go forth
to His Truth. Wherever I see His Truth, I am to espouse it–wherever I
see error I am to denounce it without hesitation.
I am to take His Word to be my only standard. And just where His Word
leads me, there I am to go, no matter where. I may have been educated
in one way but I am to bend my education to this Book. I may have
conceived prejudices but they must give way before His Truth. I may
know that such-and-such a belief is profitable to me but my profit
shall go for nothing in comparison with the Word of God. And then I can
to go forth to Christ's witness-bearing. The present age does not
believe in witness-bearing but the whole Bible is full of it. The duty
of every Christian is to bear witness for the Truth of God. Christ
says, "For this purpose was I born and came into the world." He who
knows the Truth but lays the finger of silence on his lips, saying,
"Peace, peace, when there is no peace," is a sorry Christian!
If you have been washed in Jesus' blood and saved by His righteousness,
I do implore you, take your position with Christ as witness-bearers for
the Truth as it is in Jesus. My Master wants today a band of men and
women who are prepared to be singular, so long as to be singular is to
be right. He wants men and women of bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts
who love Christ first and His Truth next–and Christ and His Truth
beyond all the world! Men and women, too, whose holy lives and
consistent conversation are not to be perverted by the bribes of this
world and whose testimony is neither to be distorted nor silenced by
frowns or by smiles.
Happy souls shall they be who dare to take their stand with Christ
today! The struggles of the Covenanters of old need to be renewed at
this moment. The strife of the Puritan age needs to return once more to
the Church. And what if the stakes of Smithfield come again? And what
if the times of persecution return to us? The good old vessel which
outrode the blood-red storm, will outride it still and with all her
passengers and crew safe on board, be received by the King and honored
with His gracious smile!
We are to take care, however, that it is to Christ we go! Not to party,
not to denomination–not to anything but Christ and His Truth! Out with
denominationalism or anything else which savors not of Christ Jesus!
Whether it is the Baptist Church, or the Episcopalian, or the
Presbyterian Church which errs from Christ's way, it is nothing to any
one of us which it may be. It is CHRIST we are to care for and Christ's
Truth. And this we are to follow over all the hedges and ditches of
men's making–straight away to Christ, clinging to Christ's mantle,
fighting a way straight through where He Himself fought and opened the
path to His Crown. Thus have we spoken of the Christian's Leader.
III. Now, in the third place, we have THE CHRISTIAN'S BURDEN. He is to
bear the Lord's reproach. The reproach of Christ, in these days, takes
this shape. "Oh," they say, "the man is too precise." "He is right. But
still, Truth is not always to be spoken. The thing is wrong, no doubt,
which he denounces, but still, the time has not come yet–we must be
lenient towards these things. The man is right in what he says, but we
must not be too precise nowadays. We must give and take a little–there
must be charity." God's Word, in this age, is a small affair. Some do
not even believe it to be Inspired. And those who profess to revere it
set up other books in a sort of rivalry with it.
Why, there are great Church dignitaries nowadays who write against the
Bible and yet find bishops to defend them! "Do not, for a moment, think
of condemning their books or them. They are our dear Brethren and must
not be fettered in thought." How many days ago is it since a bishop
talked in this way in convocation? Some believe in Popery. But here,
again, the plea will be, "They are our dear Brethren." Some believe in
nothing at all–but they are still all safely housed in one Church,
like the beasts, clean and unclean, in Noah's ark.
Those who come out with Christ, get this reproach–they are too
precise–in fact, they are "bigots." That is how the world brings it
out at last–"bigots"–a set of "bigots!" I have heard say that the
word, "bigot," took its rise from this–that a certain Protestant
nobleman being commanded, in order to gain his lands, to kneel down and
in some way or other commit the act of idolatry towards the host, said,
when he came at last to the point, "By God, I will not!" And they
called him henceforth a "By-God." If this is the meaning of the word
"bigot," we cheerfully adopt the title! And were it right to swear, we
would declare, "By Him that lives! By Heaven! We cannot speak a lie and
we cannot bend our knee to the shrine of Baal, bigots or no bigots."
The Truth of God is first and our reputation next.
Then they say, "Ah, these people are behind their time. The world has
made such advances. We are in the nineteenth century–you ought to know
better! The discoveries of science put your narrow views out of court."
Very well, Christian, be content to be behind the times for the times
are getting nearer to judgment and the last plagues. "Ah, but," they
say, "these people seem to us to be so self-righteous. They think
themselves right and nobody else." Very well, Christian, if you are
right, think yourself right! And if everybody else should call you
self-righteous, that does not mistake you so. The Lord knows how we
cling to the Cross and as poor sinners, look up to Christ and Jesus
Christ alone. Our conscience is void of offense in this matter.
"Ah," they say, "they are not worth noticing. They are all a pack of
fools." It is very remarkable that in the judgment of their own age
good men always have been fools. Fools have been they who have turned
the world upside down. Luther and Calvin, Wesley and Whitfield were all
fools. But somehow or other God managed, by these fools, to get to
Himself a glorious victory. And then they turn round and say, "It is
only the poor–only the lower orders. Have they any of the nobility and
gentry with then?" Well, this reproach we can pretty well bear because
it is the old standard of Christ that the poor have the Gospel preached
unto them. And it has ever been a sweet reflection that many who have
been poor in this world have been made rich in faith!
Brethren, you must expect, if you follow Christ, to endure reproach of
some sort or another. Let me just remind you what reproach your Master
had to bear. The world's Church said of Christ, "He is a deceiver! He
deceives the people." Incarnate Truth of God and yet a deceiver! Then
they said, "He stirs up the people! He promotes rebellion. He is no
friend of good order. He incites anarchy! He is a mere demagogue." That
was the world's cry against Christ and, as that was not enough, they
went further and said, "He is a blasphemer!" They put Him to death on
the charge that He was a blasphemer! They whispered to one another,
"Did you hear? He said such-and-such last Sunday in His sermon. What a
shocking thing he did in such a place! He is a blasphemer!"
Then came the climax. They all said He had a devil and was mad. Surely
they could go no further than this! But they supplemented it by saying
when He cast out devils that He did it through Beelzebub, the prince of
the devils! A sorry life your Master had, you see. All the filth in
earth's kennels was thrown at Him by sacrilegious hands. No epithet was
thought coarse enough! No terms hard enough–He was the song of the
drunkard and they that sat in the gate spoke against Him. This was the
reproach of Christ. And we are not to marvel if we bear as much.
"Well," says one, "I will not be a Christian if I am to bear that."
Skulk back, then, you Coward, to your own damnation! But oh, men and
women that love God and who seek after the eternal reward, I pray you
do not shrink from this Cross! You must bear it!
I know you may live without it if you will fawn and cringe and keep
back part of the price. But do not do this–it is unworthy of your
manhood–much more is it unworthy of your Christianity! God and for
Christ are so holy and so truthful that you compel the world to give
its best acknowledgment of your goodness by railing at you–it can do
no more, it will do no less. Be content to take this shame for there is
no Heaven for you if you will not–no crown without the Cross–no
jewels without the mire. You must stand in the pillory if you would sit
in Glory! You must be spit upon and be treated with shame if you would
receive eternal honor! And if you reject the one you reject the other.
IV. We close by noticing THE CHRISTIAN'S REASON FOR BEARING HIS
REPROACH AND GOING WITHOUT THE CAMP. It is in the text, "Let us go
forth therefore"–there is the reason. Why then? First, because Jesus
did. Jesus Christ came into the world pure and holy. His life and His
testimony were a witness against sin. Jesus Christ would not conform.
If He would but have done so He might have been King of the Jews. But
no, the most loving spirit that ever lived was also the most firm.
Nobody shall say that Christ was either self-willed or harsh, or that
He hated other men– nothing of the kind! Never was there such pure
generosity, such overflowing affection for men as you find in Christ.
But yield the truth, yield holiness? No, never! Not a grain of it! Be
silent? No, He rebukes the Pharisees. And when the lawyer pulls His
coat and says, "Master, in so doing, you rebuke us," then Jesus Christ
begins, "Woe unto you lawyers!" All classes have their portion from His
mouth. The Herodians come to Him. Does He for a moment yield to them?
Or when the opposite party tempts does He side with them? Does He side
with either the Sadducee or with the Pharisee? No, Christ's course was
ever an independent one–He committed himself unto no man–for He knew
what was in man. The whole of His life through you cannot mistake Him
for a Pharisee, or a Sadducee, or any one of the other teachers. He
stands out like a lone mount of light, separate and apart from the
chain of dark mountains. And so must the Christian. Christ was
separate. And so must you be! Christ was pure, holy, truthful. So must
you be! I pray you either renounce your profession or else seek Grace
to carry it out.
Moreover, the connection of the text tells us that Christ set apart His
people by going outside the camp, that He might sanctify His people. He
suffered outside the camp. Christ's separation was in order that His
People might be separated. The Head is not of the world and shall the
members be of it? The Head is despised and rejected–shall the members
be honored? "If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not
in him." The world rejects Christ–shall the world receive us? No, if
we are truly one with Him, we must expect to be rejected, too. Christ's
separation is the type and symbol of the separateness of all the elect.
Again, Christ would have His people separate for their own
sanctification. You cannot grow in Grace to any high degree while you
are conformed to the world. The path of separation may be a path of
sorrow, but it is the path of safety. And though it may cost you many
pangs and make your life like a long martyrdom and every day a battle,
yet it is a happy life after all. There is no such life as that which
the soldier of Christ leads–for though men frown upon him– Christ so
sweetly smiles upon him that he cares for no man! Christ reveals
Himself as a sweet refreshment to the warrior after the battle and so
blessed is the vision that the warrior feels more calm and peace in the
day of strife than in his hours of rest.
Believe me, the highway of holiness is the highway of communion! A blot
on your conscience will certainly separate Christ from you as to
communion. Be pure, be clear, be chaste as before the Lord and you may
walk as on the mountaintops–having Christ for your Companion–enjoying
with Him a Heaven on earth! The Covenanters and martyrs tell us in
their diaries that they were never so happy as when they were in the
dungeon alone with Christ for company! Their best days were often their
days of burning–they called them their wedding days and went to Heaven
singing and chanting the triumphal Psalm as they mounted in their
chariots of fire!
Let us close with this last thought and reason. Thus we shall hope to
win the crown if we are enabled, by Divine Grace, faithfully to follow
Christ in all respects. Oh, the crown! The crown! The crown! Come, let
me hold it up to you! Is not this a treasure? Eternal life! Likeness to
Christ! Sitting at His right hand! Do you not hear them–the harps of
angels–the songs of the redeemed? Do you not hear them, I say, as in
one perpetual Psalm of joyfulness they salute the Lord their God with
thanksgiving?
It is but a flea-bite here–and then an eternity of bliss! A moment's
shame and then an eternal honor! A little while of witness-bearing, a
little while of suffering, a little while to be rebuked and then
"forever with the Lord"! This reward is so great that it transcends the
light affliction which is but for a moment. I will not put so little
shame in contrast with it all. Why, in this age we suffer nothing–a
few hard words, a jeer, a sneer–now and then a friend who leaves us
because we speak the Truth. But what is that? O Brethren, we are denied
the honor of those favored saints who died for Jesus! Our weak spirits
love these softer times! The real days of honor were the days of
persecution. The times when saints won brightest crowns were when they
suffered most.
I fear the Church of Christ is growing sleepy. Men of God have lost
muscle and nerve. Our fathers died for half a Truth and we will not
bear rebuke for a whole one. Two women were tied to the stake at Wigton
and drowned in the rising tide–do you know what for? Simply because
they would not say, "God save the king." You say, "What does that
matter?" Well, it was comparatively a theological trifle. They held a
certain theory concerning the bearing of the Headship of Christ upon
the political position of the king. Because they thought the thing was
wrong–though I, for my part, would say, "God save the king" a thousand
times–yet they would not say it once and died in constancy to their
belief.
The two women were actually tied to stakes by the seaside. The tide
came up and when the elder woman of the two was drowned they asked the
younger whether she would say it now. But no, she would not. She
believed it to be a Truth concerning Christ and His kingdom. And though
it only touched one of the smallest jewels of His crown, yet she would
not do it and therefore the gurgling waters came up to her chin and at
last rolled over one who had faithfully borne witness to a portion of
Truth which seems very trifling to us nowadays, but which to her seemed
to be worth dying for!
Nowadays, I say, we would not die for the whole Bible though in other
ages saints would have died for the dot of an i, or the cross of a t.
We turn tail and are frightened because somebody has said a hard thing
to us for defending the Truth which concerns Jesus and has the
salvation of man wrapped in it. I say we will not fight for the great
and they would fight for the little. O may God restore to us, dear
Friends, more Grace, more piety, more love for souls, more care for the
kingdom of Christ–a sterner prizing of the Truth of God and a
determination solemnly avowed before the Lord of hosts, that come what
may, we will contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the
saints!
We stand upon the Rock of Ages confident that God will defend the right
and that right in the end shall come off victorious! God give you
Grace–especially you members of my charge–to, from this day, more
than ever you have done, take your place outside the camp and
cheerfully and joyfully to bear Christ's reproach! Some of you cannot
do this. You cannot bear His reproach. You cannot go outside the camp
for you have no vital faith–you have not believed in Jesus. O Sinner,
you are not to carry Christ's Cross first–but look to that Cross for
salvation! And when He has saved you, as He will if you trust in Him,
then take up your cross and carry it and praise the name of God from
this time forth, even forever!